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MASTERS  IN  ART 


: ; :i  : 


. i 


iDp^terMn^rt 

K'0ens0;^lu9tratEditt9nojarapl^^ 


Among  the  artists  to  be  considered  during  the  current,  1905, 
V'olume  may  be  mentioned  Fra  Filippo  Lippi,  Sir  Henry  Rae- 
burn, Claude  Lorrain,and  Verrocchio.  The  numbers  of  *■  Masters 
in  Art  ’ which  have  already  appeared  in  1905  are  : 

Part6i,  JANUARY 
Part  62,  FEBRUARY 
Part6j,  march 
Part  64,  APRIL 
Part  6s,  MAY 
Pakt66,  JUNE  . 

Part  67,  JULY  . 


WATTS 
. PALMA  VECCHIO 
MADAME  VIGEE  LE  BRUN 
MANTEGNA 
. CHARDIN 
. BENOZZO  GOZZOLI 
.JAN  STEEN 


PART  68,  THE  ISSUE  FOR 

9lugust 

WILL  TREAT  OF 

i^lcmlinc 


NUMBERS  ISSUED  IN  FREVUOUS  VOLUMES 
OF  ‘MASTERS  IN  ART’ 


VOL.  1. 


Part  i.- 
Pakt  1- 


Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part 
Part  10.- 
Part  II.- 
Part  12.- 


-VAN  DYCK 
-TITIAN 
-VELASQUEZ 
-HOLBEIN 
-BOTTICELLI 
-REMBRANDT 
-REYNOLDS 
-MILLET 
-GIO.  BELLINI 
-MURILLO 
-HALS 
-RAPHAEL 

* Sculpture 

VOL.  3. 


Part  ij. 
Part  14. 
Part  15. 
Part  16. 
Part  17. 
Part  18. 
Part  19. 
Part  20.- 
Part  21. 
Part  22. 
Part  2J. 
Part  24. 


VOL.  2. 

-RUBENS 
-DA  VINCI 


-DURER  I 

-MICHELANGELO* 
-MICHELANGELOt 
-COROT 

-BURNE-JONES  ' 

-TER  BORCH  I 

-DELLA  ROBBIA  ^ 

-DEL  SARTO 
-GAINSBOROUGH 
-CORREGGIO 


^Painting 

VOL.  4. 


Part  25.— PHIDIAS 
Part  26.— PERUGINO 
Part  27.  — HOLBEIN  J 
Part  28.— TINTORETTO 
Part  29.- P.  deHOOCH 
Part  30.— NATTIER 
Part  ji.— PAUL  POTTER  Part  43. 
Part  32.— GIOTTO 
Part  33.— PR AXI  TELES 
Part  34.— HOGARTH 
Part  35.— TURNER 
Part  36.— LUINI 


^ Drawings  * Frescos 

VOL.  5. 

Part  49,  JANUARY  . . FRA 

Part  50,  FEBRUARY 
Part  51,  MARCH 
Part  52,  APRIL 
Part  53,  MAY 
Part  54,  JUNE 
Part  55,  JULY 
Part  56,  AUGUST  . 

Part  57,  SEPTEMBER 
Part  58,  OCTOBER 
Part  59,  NOVEMBER 
Part  60,  DECEMBER 


Part  37.— ROMNEY 
Part  38.— FRA  ANGELICO 
Part  39.— WATTEAU 
Part  40.- RAPHAEL* 

Part  41— DON ATELLO 
Part  42.— GERARD  DOU 
CARPACCIO 
Part  44.— ROSA  BONHEUR 
Part  45,— GUIDO  RENI 
Part  46. — P.  deCHAVANNES 
Part  47.— GIORGIONE  • 
Part  48.— ROSSETTI 


TH 


ARTOLOMMEO 
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MO 

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i 

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MASTKHS  I A"  AKT  PLATK  I 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  BRAUN,  CLEMENT  A CIE. 

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THK  FESTIVAL.  OF  ST.  XICIIOLAS 
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in  2016 


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MASTKHS  IX  AHT  PI.Al’KllI 


MASTKJtS  l.V  AKT  I'l.ATK  IV 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  BRAUN,  CLEMENT  Sl  CiE. 


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HOTOQRAPH  BY  BRAUN,  CLEMENT  A CIE.  'I’lIK  'I’AN'hMJX 

[;27.!]  THK  1IA<;UK  c;am-khv 


POHTl{AlT  ny  .TAX  STKK.V  HY  HIMSKr.F 
KAHli  OK  XOHTHHKOOlv'S  COLI. KCTIOX , I.OXDOX 

Jan  Steen  painted  this  portrait  when  he  was  about  forty  years  old.  Dressed  in  a 
brown  jacket  with  yellow  sleeves,  green  slashed  hose,  a dark  red  cap,  and  long 
brown  cloak  lined  with  red,  he  sits  before  us  with  legs  crossed,  singing  a rollicking 
song  as  he  touches  the  strings  of  his  mandolin.  Behind  him  is  a green  curtain,  and 
at  his  side  a table  on  which  are  music-books  and  a silver  tankard.  The  tones  are 
broken  and  transparent;  the  execution  broad  and  masterly.  'I'he  panel  measures 
less  than  two  feet  high  by  one  foot  and  a half  wide. 

[•274] 


t 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


an  lb  t e e n 


BORN  1 0 2 G : DIED  1 G 7 9 

DUTCH  SCHOOL 


The  lives  of  the  great  seventeenth-century  painters  of  Holland  are  for  the 
most  part  known  to  us  only  in  outline.  Even  that  of  Rembrandt,  the 
greatest  of  them  all,  is  more  or  less  shrouded  in  mystery,  and  therefore  it  is 
perhaps  not  surprising  that  of  the  life  of  Jan  Steen  (pronounced  Yahn  Stane), 
who  in  certain  of  his  qualities  as  a painter  is  regarded  as  second  only  to  Rem- 
brandt, few  authenticated  details  have  been  handed  down.  Recent  research 
has  revealed  a number  of  facts,  and  discovered  and  established  beyond  ques- 
tion considerable  data,  thereby  providing  us  with  a framework  which  it  is  left 
to  our  imagination  to  fill  out — to  our  imagination,  or  to  those  legendary  tales 
concerning  the  painter  for  which  Houbraken,  the  eighteenth-century  biog- 
rapher of  Dutch  artists,  is  largely  responsible,  but  which  rest  on  no  firm  foun- 
dation and  are  wholly  without  documentary  proof. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  man  has  been  more  maligned  than  Jan  Steen.  Re- 
garded for  many  years  as  a drunken  profligate,  spending  his  life  in  the  pursuit 
of  pleasures  of  the  lowest  kind,  taking  no  thought  for  the  morrow  and  painting 
only  when  necessity  in  the  shape  of  creditors  compelled  him  to  do  so,  Steen 
has  long  been  accepted  by  one  and  all  as  the  typical  drunkard  and  ne’er-do- 
Vv^ell  so  often  depicted  by  his  own  clever  brush,  and  it  has  been  only  in  com- 
paratively recent  times  that  the  justice  of  such  wholesale  denunciation  has 
been  seriously  questioned  by  his  biographers,  who,  while  readily  admitting 
that  he  was  a genial  and  jovial  soul,  a good-natured,  light-hearted  fellow,  fond 
of  his  pipe  and  by  no  means  insensible  to  the  charms  of  a glass  of  good  wine, 
have  failed  to  find  any  recorded  proof  of  the  laziness  and  intemperance  with 
which  he  has  been  accused,  and  who  claim  that  the  vast  number  of  authentic 
works,  amounting  to  nearly  five  hundred,  executed  during  his  comparatively 
brief  career,  would  alone  belie  the  first  charge,  while  the  fact  that  many  even 
of  those  painted  towards  the  end  of  his  life  are  not  only  minutely  finished,  but 
are  executed  with  a sure  touch,  and  a steady  and  unfaltering  hand,  utterly 
refutes  the  accusation  of  habitual  drunkenness. 

The  little  that  is  actually  known  of  }an  Steen  is  soon  told.  He  belonged  to 
an  old  and  highly  respectable  family  of  Leyden,  Holland,  where  he  was  born 
in  the  year  1626  — a date  that  has  been  established  beyond  dispute  by  the  fact 

[ 2 75] 


24 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


that  his  name  is  inscribed  as  a student  upon  the  records  of  the  university  of  his 
native  town  with  the  date  1646  and  a note  to  the  effect  that  he  was  then  twenty 
years  of  age.  His  father  was  a prosperous  brewer,  who,  recognizing  the  talent 
for  art  which  his  son  evinced  very  early  in  life,  placed  the  young  man  in  the 
studio  of  one  Nicolaus  Knupfer,  a German  painter  then  living  in  Utrecht,  or 
it  may  be,  as  Dr.  Bredius  supposes,  temporarily  residing  in  Leyden.  It  is 
thought  by  some  that  Steen  went  to  Haarlem  after  a brief  period  and  there 
studied  under  Adriaen  Brouwer;  but  as  Brouwer  moved  to  Antwerp  in 
1631-32,  this  could  not  have  been  the  case.  It  is  probable  that  his  master  in 
Haarlem  was  Adriaen  van  Ostade,  whose  influence  is  perceptible  in  his  work. 
Dr.  Bode’s  belief  that  he  was  at  this  time  influenced  by  Frans  Hals  and  his 
less  famous  brother,  Dirk,  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  certain  similarities 
‘exist  between  some  of  Steen’s  pictures  and  the  works  of  those  painters. 

This  supposed  early  sojourn  in  Haarlem,  however,  could  not  have  been  of 
long  duration,  for  we  soon  hear  of  Steen  at  The  Hague,  where  he  entered  the 
studio  of  the  painter  Jan  van  Goyen,  whose  daughter  Margaretha  he  married 
in  October  of  the  year  1649.  The  year  before  this  he  was  apparently  in  Leyden, 
for  he  had  then  been  inscribed  in  the  painters’  gild  of  that  town;  but  during  the 
next  few  years  he  seems  to  have  resided  for  the  most  part  at  The  Hague,  and 
in  1654  to  have  leased  for  a period  of  six  years,  and  in  consideration  of  the 
sum  of  four  hundred  florins  annually,  a brewery  in  the  neighboring  town  of 
Delft,  known  as  ‘‘The  Brewery  of  the  Serpent,”  in  which  financial  enterprise 
his  father  went  security  for  him.  Whether  this  brewery  was  exchanged  for 
another,  or  whether  he  later  leased  a second,  is  uncertain,  but  in  1656  his  name 
occurs  in  a legal  document  of  the  day  as  the  owner  of  “The  Brewery  of  the 
Currycomb”  at  Delft,  and  in  the  following  year  it  stands  recorded  that  Steen’s 
father  went  to  Delft  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  debts  of  his  son,  whose  busi- 
ness venture  there  had  evidently  met  with  a disastrous  end. 

Poor  Steen’s  affairs  were  assuredly  in  a bad  way  at  this  period  of  his  career. 
His  father-in-law,  Jan  van  Goyen,  had  lately  died,  leaving  behind  him  nothing 
but  debts,  and  there  is  every  probability  that  Steen  suffered  through  the  finan- 
cial difficulties  which  had  embarrassed  his  father-in-law,  for  he  seems  to  have 
removed  for  a time  to  Leyden,  where  his  own  father  could  render  him  assist- 
ance. 

The  various  gaps  that  occur  from  time  to  time  in  attempting  to  follow  the 
steps  of  Jan  Steen  make  it  impossible  to  assert  with  positiveness  the  exact 
chronological  order  of  the  scenes  of  his  labors;  but  in  1661,  when  he  was  thirty- 
five  years  old,  we  find  him  in  Haarlem,  where,  with  his  wife  and  children,  he 
probably  resided  for  the  next  eight  years.  This  was  the  period  in  which  his 
best  works  were  painted;  but  his  pictures  never  commanded  high  prices,  selling 
generally,  indeed,  for  as  small  an  amount  as  twenty  florins  apiece — rarely  for 
so  much  as  fifty — and  therefore  his  circumstances  continued  straitened,  as  is 
proved  by  a record  to  the  effect  that  in  1670  the  unfortunate  painter’s  pictures 
were  seized  and  sold  by  an  apothecary  in  payment  of  a debt  of  some  ten  florins 
contracted  for  medicine  during  the  illness  of  Steen’s  wife  the  previous  year. 
.We  also  learn  that  the  artist  was  forced  to  borrow  money,  the  interest  on  which, 

[27  6] 


\ 


JAN  STEEN 


25 


amounting  to  twenty-nine  florins,  or  about  twelve  dollars,  annually,  he  paid 
the  first  year  in  the  form  of  three  portraits  ‘‘painted  as  well  as  he  was  able.” 

In  1669  his  wife  died,  and  was  buried  in  Haarlem.  That  same  year  his 
father  also  died,  and  not  long  afterwards  Steen  returned  with  his  children  to 
Leyden  to  take  possession  of  the  property  he  had  inherited,  including  a house, 
in  which  in  the  autumn  of  1672  he  asked  and  obtained  permission  of  the  magis- 
trate of  Leyden  to  open  a tavern.  “Realizing,”  writes  one  of  his  biographers, 
“that  in  such  an  undertaking  a wife  would  be  useful,”  he  married,  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  a widow,  Maria  van  Egrnont  by  name,  who  took  charge  of  his 
household  and  his  children,  and  by  whom  he  had  one  son  in  addition. 

The  fact  that  the  painter  in  his  last  years  became  the  keeper  of  a public- 
house  is  sufficient  foundation  for  the  many  tales  told  by  Houbraken  and  by  a 
somewhat  later  biographer,  Weyerman,  of  the  jolly  painter  and  his  numerous 
boon  companions  who  were  wont  to  assemble  in  the  tavern  to  enjoy  over  their 
pipes  and  bowls  the  enlivening  society  of  their  genial  host.  A number  of 
Steen's  pictures  depict  the  scenes  of  boisterous  merriment,  many  of  them  none 
too  nice,  which  took  place  in  this  very  tavern,  sometimes  showing  us  the  in- 
mates feasting  and  reveling,  sometimes  introducing  us  into  the  intimacy  of 
his  family  circle. 

As  long  as  he  lived  Jan  Steen  continued  to  paint,  working  industriously  at 
his  art  to  the  end.  The  circumstances  of  his  death  are  unknown  to  us;  we  only 
learn  that  it  took  place  in  the  winter  of  1679,  when  he  was  but  fifty-three  years 
old,  and  that  on  the  third  of  February  he  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter 
at  Leyden,  leaving  to  his  widow  and  children  the  house  in  that  town  where 
the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  had  been  spent. 


Cht  of  Jan  ^tren 

FREDERICK  WEDMORE  <THE  MASTERS  OF  G E N R E - P A I N T I N G ’ 

The  Dutch  artists  of  the  great  seventeenth  century  looked  at  life  widely, 
but  none  of  them,  save  Rembrandt,  so  widely  as  did  Jan  Steen.  He  was 
a moralist  too  great  to  be  much  occupied  with  his  moral.  Occupied  with  the 
record  of  the  life  into  which  he  keenly  entered,  he  observed  and  painted, 
painted  and  observed.  Nothing  was  closed  to  him.  Dusart  kept  himself  to  the 
tavern,  and  if  Adriaen  van  Ostade  left  it,  it  was  rarely  for  more  exalted  com- 
pany. Metsu,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  artist  of  the  parlor — the  painter  of 
the  middle-class,  the  painter  of  the  comfortable.  Ter  Borch  was  more  espe- 
cially the  painter  of  the  rich,  the  polite  assistant  at  family  ceremonies,  the 
recorder  even  of  historic  scenes — diplomatists  in  solemn  and  wily  conclave  — 
the  chronicler  of  august  features,  and  of  the  jewels  and  sheen  on  the  raiment 
of  the  noble.  Large,  very  likely,  was  the  society  open  to  these  men — large, 
but  not  so  various.  Jan  Steen  went  everywffiere.  At  home  in  the  kitchen,  at 
home  at  the  feast,  he  followed  the  thoughts  and  ways  of  men  in  tavern  and 

[27  7 ] 


26 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


parlor.  He  photographed  debauchery.  He  knew  the  depths  of  the  abandoned. 
He  was  so  refined  that  the  subtlest  and  most  changeful  expressions  of  the 
sweetest  and  most  meditative  face  became  possessions  of  his  memory,  and 
were  placed  with  finest  accuracy  on  his  canvas.  He  knew  the  humors  of  little 
children. 

And  yet  Jan  Steen  in  his  own  lifetime  was  not  much  appreciated.  A few 
things  of  his  got  into  good  collections — were  slipped  in  there,  indulgently,  it 
may  be,  by  some  far-seeing  man  with  a sly  liking  for  them,  but  were  never 
reckoned  as  of  great  account.  Steen  worked  much,  and  worked  for  little  — 
lacking  highly  placed  advocates  and  the  art  of  social  success.  Fifty  years  after 
his  death  there  came  what  has  proved  to  be  but  the  beginning  of  the  change. 
The  value  of  his  pictures,  small  enough  to  begin  with,  had  already  doubled. 
And  now,  as  art  of  most  kinds — In  novels,  in  comedies,  in  the  art  of  sculpture 
— turns  to  the  search  of  expression  pathetic  or  humorous  in  the  present  and 
the  actual,  there  is  sure  to  be  an  ever-readler  sympathy  with  the  art  of  the 
great  Dutchmen  who  accepted  their  own  time  and  portrayed  it. 

And  who  portrayed  It  better  than  Jan  Steen  ? He  recoiled  from  no  coarse- 
ness, yet  rose  to  the  rendering  of  the  sweetest.  Unlike  too  many  of  his  fellows, 
while  seeing  details  keenly  he  saw  the  whole  widely.  The  cunning  of  his  hand 
never  betrayed  him  into  concentrating  interest  on  the  trivial  accessory.  He 
did  not  paint  men  for  the  sake  of  textures,  but  textures  for  the  sake  of  men. 
He  observed  life,  while  others  observed  satin.  And  to  his  observation  of  life, 
Jan  Steen,  too  sympathetic  to  be  distant  and  unmoved,  brought  his  own  spirit 
of  gentle  and  genial  and  tolerant  philosophy.  He  has  painted  himself  In  the 
near  background  of  some  of  his  pictures,  smoking  his  meditative  pipe,  while 
looking  with  a half-humorous  sadness,  a half-sad  enjoyment,  at  the  enacted 
scene  of  folly  or  pleasure.  He  is  well  within  reach  — may  even  rise — abandon 
pipe  and  meditation.  That  Is  exactly  his  own  position  in  the  life  and  world 
which  for  thirty  years  he  portrays.  He  feels  that  the  figures  he  has  made  to 
dance  are  no  puppets  of  his  handling,  but  his  own  fiesh  and  blood.  He  is  not 
aloof  and  elevated,  but  can  cry  his  own  peccavi!  Some  of  the  chroniclers 
of  our  follies  and  errors,  of  our  transient  pleasures  and  baffled  ways,  scorn  us 
a little  superfluously  from  the  lonely  heights  to  which  they  are  somehow  trans- 
lated. But  Steen  was  Mollere  rather  than  Swift,  Balzac  rather  than  George 
Eliot.  To  the  last  he  suffered  under  no  bitter  persuasion  of  the  worthlessness 
of  the  chase  he  depicted.  . . . 

The  great  artist  is  weakest  In  his  grasp  of  divine  things.  Keener  than  so 
many  of  the  Dutchmen,  so  much  less  gross,  so  far  more  sensitive  to  human 
beauty,  the  spirit  of  Jan  Steen  has  this  in  common  with  that  of  the  poorest  of 
them — he  Is  feeble,  he  is  powerless,  when  he  sets  himself  to  the  treatment  of 
religious  themes,  unless  he  can  so  treat  them  as  to  Ignore  their  religious  signifi- 
cance. It  is  not  that,  like  Rembrandt,  he  needs,  in  order  to  be  very  real,  to 
inspire  himself  with  the  suflPering  and  sorrow  of  the  miserable  in  Amsterdam  — 
it  is  not  that  then  he  can  give  a new  fidelity  to  the  representation  of  subjects 
otherwise  outworn.  It  is  that  his  art  is  of  his  world  and  century,  and  comedy 
always  — comedy  high,  broad,  or  low,  vulgar  or  gentle;  but  always  comedy,. 

[278] 


JANSTEEN  27 

even  when  it  rises  to  remonstrance  or  reproof,  or  brings  tears  as  easily  as 
laughter.  . . . 

Above  all  others  of  the  Dutchmen,  Jan  Steen  is  the  painter  of  the  charm  of 
youth  and  of  the  dignity  of  active  age.  There  is  his  weak  point,  the  limit  of  his 
interest — age  must  be  active,  or  at  least  capable,  if  he  is  to  portray  it  with 
sympathy.  In  his  pictures,  the  grandfather,  still  alert,  watches  the  play  of  the 
child;  a hale  old  woman  is  busy  with  domestic  work;  an  elderly  doctor,  up- 
right and  active,  noble  of  gesture,  clear  and  keen  in  thought,  holds  his  patient’s 
hand  with  a father’s  solicitude.  These  are  figures  of  comedy  still,  and  their 
place  is  a fine  one  in  the  work  of  Steen.  But  for  the  capacity  that  is  beginning 
to  wane,  for  the  years  that  now  in  the  steady  coming  of  decrepitude  draw  more 
and  more  about  them  the  tenderness  of  youth,  for  the  age  for  which  the  hour 
of  helplessness  has  struck,  Jan  Steen  has  nothing  to  say.  He  was  for  the  sun- 
light of  prosperity,  in  tavern  or  parlor. 

Thus  perhaps  it  is  that  his  conception  of  children  is  altogether  lighter  and 
happier  than  that  of  his  brethren.  Most  of  the  Dutch  painters  painted  chil- 
dren, but  had  no  place  for  child-life.  Around  them  it  hardly  seems  to  have 
existed.  One  of  them,  and  strange  to  say  it  was  Steen’s  master,  Adriaen  van 
Ostade,  drew  infancy  and  childhood  not  only  ill-shaped,  button-nosed,  short- 
necked, stumpy  and  square — for  most  of  them  did  that — but  weary  of  soul 
already;  already  sad  and  bitter  of  experience.  The  others — Pieter  de  Hooch 
amongst  them  — painted  the  children  early  broken  into  domestic  ways;  duti- 
fully fulfilling  their  little  share  of  the  cares  of  the  household;  small  replicas  of 
their  mother,  gravely  careful,  as  she  would  be,  of  the  beer  or  milk  jug  they 
are  trusted  to  carry.  Generally  in  Dutch  art  they  take  life  seriously.  In  Dutch 
art,  elders  and  betters  may  be  moved  to  mirth  by  song  or  fiddle — it  is  not  the 
children  that  are  merry.  Jan  Steen  is  an  exception.  The  child  in  Jan  Steen’s 
pictures  has  found  no  task  in  life.  He  has  nothing  to  say  to  the  pursuits  of  his 
elders — the  world  of  his  own  thoughts  is  leagues  aw^ay. 

With  this  happy  carelessness  Jan  Steen  has  joined  great  physical  charm. 
His  are  often  the  prettiest  children  that  we  have  known  since  the  Renaissance, 
and  their  arch  liveliness  might  almost  be  of  France,  and  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. . . . Look,  for  instance,  at  the  ‘Festival  of  St.  Nicholas’  in  Amsterdam. 
It  is  the  children’s  fete,  the  day  of  the  Dutch  Santa  Claus,  when  the  child- 
faces,  strained  with  expectancy — since  these  are  the  great  moments,  the 
crises  of  life,  to  the  imagination  of  young  children  — become  suddenly  radi- 
ant with  fulfilled  delight.  You  have  no  purer,  no  more  vivacious,  no  more 
manly  painter  of  children’s  joy. 

And  the  charm  of  adolescence  and  young  womanhood!  Painters  of  pretty 
faces  generally  weary  us.  They  are  wedded  commonly  to  one  order  of  pretti- 
ness, if  they  have  made  any  type  at  all  thoroughly  their  own.  And  their  sweets 
cloy.  Only  the  very  greatest  Italians,  and,  out  of  Italy,  Watteau  and  Jan 
Steen,  can  keep  us  permanently  interested  in  the  young  women  of  their  art. 
In  Italy — with  Raphael,  Titian,  Tintoretto — the  highest  and  most  perfect 
types  have  been  realized  for  ever;  the  charm  of  imperfection  is  Watteau’s  and 
Jan  Steen’s,  They  give  you  irregular  and  unforeseen  beauties;  vivacity  and 

[27  9] 


28 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


alert  intelligence  — these  without  stint;  fleeting  graces  of  light  and  color.  It  is 
the  art  of  Watteau  and  of  Steen  to  express  changefulness.  In  their  faces  they 
paint  not  only  life,  but  moments  of  life,  and  so  suggest  to  you,  if  you  under- 
stand them  at  all,  other  moments  that  have  gone  before,  and  quite  different 
ones  that  will  come  after.  Not  that  Jan  Steen  is  wholly  regardless  of  perma- 
nent beauty  of  form.  The  better  built  of  the  Dutch  figures,  men  and  women 
alike,  are  to  be  found  in  his  work:  a head  well  poised,  a figure  lithe,  svelte,  and 
erect;  they  are  not  uncommon  with  him.  And  what  perfection  of  form  Steen 
does  draw,  he  draws — be  sure — with  the  daintiest  draftsmanship.  No  touch 
is  lighter,  more  vivacious,  more  assured. 

In  the  comedy  of  Jan  Steen,  as  in  the  comedy  of  life,  there  is  room  generally 
for  the  curious  spectator.  He  gives  the  condiment  to  the  dish  of  satire — is 
the  vehicle  for  the  artist’s  caustic  wit,  and  expresses  his  moral.  Perhaps,  as  in 
one  ‘Doctor’s  Visit,’  it  is  a servant  who  passes  slowly  in  the  background,  her 
attention  not  quite  absorbed  by  menial  duties,  her  lips  lifted  in  a satirical 
smile.  Perhaps,  as  in  a scene  of  orgie,  it  is  the  paid  musicians,  who,  their 
work  done,  pass  out  behind  with  grimaces  of  intelligent  tolerance.  Alas!  their 
betters  are  no  better  than  themselves.  Or  it  is  a scene  — the  lowest  perhaps 
that  Jan  Steen’s  adventurous  and  exploring  steps  ever  led  him  to- — a scene  of 
‘ Bad  Company,’  in  which  a simple  youth,  a little  drunk  and  heavy,  is  en- 
trapped by  harlots,  one  of  whom  robs  him  of  his  watch  while  he,  with  open 
mouth,  sleeps  upon  her  knee.  A hideous  hag,  in  league  with  the  marauder, 
receives  the  stolen  goods.  Broken  bits  from  a feast  lie  on  the  board.  A fiddler 
fiddles  still  merrily  from  behind,  and  one  sad  face  of  a philosophic  smoker, 
prudently  removed  from  the  action  of  the  piece,  points  its  Hogarthian  moral. 

It  is  not  all  scenes — happily! — that  need  such  spectators;  tw'o  master- 
pieces at  The  Hague  are  quite  without  them.  In  one  of  them  there  is  Steen 
himself,  surrounded  by  his  family,  and  taking  his  part  in  the  pleasures  of  the 
home.  It  is  painted  in  large  style,  and  in  the  middle,  Jan  Steen,  at  a not  empty 
board,  sits,  a sharp,  witty,  happy  observer,  his  face  screwed  up  with  merry 
appreciation  of  the  innocent  gambols  around.  In  the  other,  a scene  in  an  inn, 
which  has  nevertheless  and  justifiably  sometimes  been  called  ‘A  Picture  of 
Human  Life,’  many  persons,  and  of  all  ages  and  various  ranks,  are  assembled 
in  a large  guest-room.  From  the  old  man  who  takes  such  pleasure  in  the  child, 
to  the  child  who  takes  pleasure  in  the  favorite  bird,  all  are  there.  Family  love 
is  represented  — naturally,  incidentally,  in  no  didactic  strain;  work  is  repre- 
sented; idleness;  the  isolation  of  the  self-absorbed;  the  old  man,  whose  own 
best  life  is  now  in  the  fresher  life  of  his  kindred;  the  dullard,  whose  adoration 
is  the  beer-pot  and  who  is  now  completely  and  contentedly  occupied  with  that 
alone.  Grace  and  bustle  of  arrangement,  fertility  in  happy  invention,  cannot 
go  any  further.  Here,  too,  as  in  the  serving-girl  who  kneels  at  the  hearth  pour- 
ing lemon-juice  on  oysters  for  the  feast,  is  Steen’s  vivacious  and  firm  beauty 
of  contour;  here,  in  a brown  damsel,  happy,  with  brilliant  eyes,  who  listens  but 
lazily  to  the  protestations  of  her  gallant,  is  not  the  worst  of  his  so  varied  types 
of  w omanhood. 

Now  and  then  Steen’s  technical  methods  approach  toMetsu.  When  this  does 

[280] 


JAN  STEEN 


29 


chance,  that  Steen  passes  on  to  Metsu’s  ground,  he  is  perfectly  at  home  there. 
Somehow  an  unsuspected  liveliness  has  lurked  in  the  sober  and  hne  parlor;  an 
unwonted  subtlety,  and  a rare  and  intimate  truth,  as  of  moments  that  really 
pass  and  stories  that  really  happen,  gather  into  faces  charged  by  the  keener 
artist  with  more  than  Metsu’s  life. 

CARLLEMCKE  ‘JAN  STEEN* 

JAN  STEEN  was  Holland’s  realistic  poet-painter  of  boisterous  comedy  and 
satirical  farce.  With  a sort  of  demoniac  power  he  embraces  the  whole  field 
of  the  humorous  of  his  day — from  the  coarse,  the  grotesque,  and  the  im- 
pure, through  all  manner  of  fun  and  frolic,  of  joy  and  sorrow,  orderly  and  dis- 
orderly, to  wild  Bacchanalian  orgies  and  the  most  cutting  satire.  He  should 
not,  of  course,  be  measured  by  the  standards  which  prevail  to-day.  The  age 
in  which  he  lived  and  the  people  whom  he  painted  were  the  reverse  of  prudish. 
If  we  would  find  excuse  for  some  of  his  coarsest  pictures,  we  have  but  to  read 
the  poems,  the  comedies,  the  satires,  or  even  the  marriage  odes  of  the  poets  of 
good  standing  of  that  day. 

To  look  upon  Jan  Steen  as  only  a dissolute  drunken  genius,  who,  ruining 
himself  through  intemperance  and  debauchery,  painted  tavern  scenes  of  the 
lowest  kind,  is  as  unjust  as  it  would  be  to  judge  Aristophanes  solely  by  the 
vulgar  passages  which  occur  in  his  dramas.  Fortunately,  when  we  have  suc- 
ceeded in  penetrating  beneath  the  legendary  fumes  of  tobacco  and  of  liquor 
which  envelop  the  painter,  we  shall  find  in  his  character-studies  evidence  of  a 
higher  aim,  and  therein  a refutation  of  the  misstatements  and  exaggerations 
of  Houbraken  and  his  followers. 

Jan  Steen  was  a born  painter — a genius.  At  the  first  glance  he  saw  his 
whole  picture,  living  and  distinct  in  depth  — in  a word,  he  composed  in 
space.  All  that  he  painted  he  had  himself  seen  and  experienced.  He  sparkles 
with  wit  and  humor,  life  and  gaiety,  and  therefore  his  figures  are  one  and 
all  represented  in  action.  A skilful  draftsman  and  endowed  with  a vivid  im- 
agination, he  was  not,  as  were  so  many  of  his  fellow-artists,  bound  down  to 
formal  model  or  lay-figure;  indeed,  anything  that  was  forced  or  compulsory 
was  in  opposition  to  his  nature.  He  was  a gifted  colorist,  proving  himself  by 
his  treatment  of  light  and  shade  a true  member  of  the  great  school  to  which  he 
belonged;  and  yet  chiaroscuro  was  not  his  specialty;  in  that  he  must  yield 
the  palm  to  others.  Above  all,  Jan  Steen  is  an  original  genius,  an  inventor, 
and  in  the  portrayal  of  human  emotions  and  passions  he  takes  rank  among  the 
greatest  masters.  His  brush  has  depicted  every  conceivable  expression,  from 
the  debased  and  vulgar,  the  distorted  and  demoniacal,  to  the  childlike,  the 
innocent,  and  the  noble.  However  he  may  delight  in  representing  what  is 
wild,  grotesque,  and  coarse,  he  can  be  very  delicate  and  refined.  His  little 
maiden  with  the  lamb  in  the  ‘Menagerie’  is  a little  Virgin  Mary — the  image 
of  innocence.  His  sick  girl  with  the  inscrutable  smile  in  ‘The  Doctor’s  Visit’ 
in  Amsterdam  is  charming.  But  he  never  paints  what  ic  sad  or  embittered. 
He  is  no  melancholy  satirist  troubled  by  depression  of  spirits;  in  his  life  and 

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30 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


in  his  works  we  find  him  genial  and  light-hearted.  He  may  lay  bare  before 
our  eyes  degradation  and  vice,  but  he  himself  laughs  or  scoffs  at  the  spectacle. 

The  taste  of  the  day  in  Holland  called  for  a delicate  and  highly  finished 
style  of  painting,  for  that  beauty  of  coloring,  that  poetic  charm  and  naivete 
which  can  best  be  studied  in  the  works  of  Adriaen  van  Ostade,  Gerard  Dou, 
and  Metsu.  But  this  was  not  the  style  of  the  humorist  and  satirist,  Jan  Steen, 
who  fairly  bubbled  over  with  life  and  spirits.  He  was  like  Rembrandt  in  feel- 
ing that  his  picture  was  practically  finished  as  soon  as  he  had  given  expression 
to  his  thoughts;  but  his  wit  and  his  keenness  could  not  be  expressed  in  mere 
form  and  color,  after  the  manner  of  the  painters  of  mood  and  sentiment. 

In  his  own  day,  however,  no  great  value  was  set  upon  his  pictures,  no 
matter  how  rich  in  thought  and  deep  in  meaning  they  might  be.  Could  it  be 
expected  that  what  the  artist  dashed  off  so  easily  and  gave  away  so  freely 
should  be  very  highly  esteemed  ? And  Jan  Steen  himself  did  not  especially 
prize  his  own  productions,  but,  like  so  many  a creative  genius,  threw  them 
carelessly  away  like  pearls  before  swine,  whereas  numbers  of  far  less  tal- 
ented painters  rated  their  own  laboriously  composed  pictures  so  highly  that 
others  were  inspired  with  the  utmost  respect  for  them.  And  so  it  transpired 
that  the  opinion  of  the  public  concerning  Jan  Steen,  and  the  valuation  placed 
upon  his  works,  came  to  be  established — an  opinion  which  was  not  changed 
by  any  personal  dignity  on  the  part  of  the  painter. 

There  was  a period  in  Steen’s  life  when  he  devoted  his  whole  attention  to 
his  art  — a period  in  which  he  painted  really  great  and  fine  pictures,  when  he 
passed  from  buffoonery  into  the  field  of  comedy,  and  gave  proof  that  his  aim 
and  his  ideal  were  of  a higher  nature.  His  power  as  a colorist  was  also  shown, 
and  he  created  works  which  in  their  delicacy  could  well  bear  comparison  with 
those  of  Metsu,  of  Dou,  Van  Ostade,  Van  Mieris,  and  Pieter  de  Hooch  — 
works,  too,  of  Rembrandtesque  force,  and  so  rich  in  color  that  they  might  be 
hung  alongside  of  those  of  the  Venetian  painters.  But  no  Maecenas  gave  him 
commissions  for  his  pictures,  nor  even  when  he  exerted  all  his  powers  did  any 
one  pay  him  a ducat  per  hour.  In  order  to  enter  the  lists  against  the  great 
colorists,  his  fellow-artists  who  were  receiving  high  prices  for  their  works,  he 
would  have  been  obliged  to  paint  in  a style  wholly  foreign  to  his  nature.  Bold, 
exaggerated,  farcical  scenes — those  were  the  kind  that  he  could,  for  moderate 
prices,  sell  most  readily;  and  by  painting  such  he  was  able  to  earn  more  than 
in  any  other  way,  for  works  of  that  description  he  could  produce  easily  and 
with  extraordinary  rapidity. 

Whatever  was  clownish,  coarse,  and  vulgar  was  held  to  be  characteristic  of 
Jan  Steen.  It  seemed  as  if  he  could  not  be  extravagant  enough  to  satisfy  the 
public!  And  when  he  deviated  from  this  style,  and  showed  that  he  was  really 
in  advance  of  his  day,  he  was  not  understood.  According  to  the  stories  told 
of  him,  every  tavern-keeper  was  ready  to  fiU  up  can  or  keg  for  the  painter  in 
return  for  one  of  his  pictures.  And  so  one  thing  and  another  strengthened  the 
opinion  which  had  been  formed  of  him.  . . . 

As  a painter  Jan  Steen  is  distinctly  modern.  His  subjects  are  no  cold  alle- 
gories, but  living  scenes  from  the  drama  of  humanity.  In  the  thoughtful  qual- 

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JAN  STEEN 


31 


ity  of  his  art  he  is  so  far  ahead  of  his  times  that  any  one  who  is  familiar  with 
only  his  grotesque  or  comic  scenes  would  suppose  that  many  of  his  pictures 
did  not  belong  to  the  seventeenth  century,  but  could  readily  believe  them,  to 
be  the  works  of  some  gifted  contemporary  of  Hogarth’s,  or  of  an  enigmatic 
but  keen  observer  of  character  of  the  present  century. 

In  his  execution  he  is  very  unequal.  Sometimes  his  pictures  are  exceedingly 
careless,  again  they  are  so  minutely  finished  that  they  recall  the  Dutch  painters 
already  spoken  of.  Some  of  his  works  are  Flemish  in  their  bright  coloring, 
like  Teniers’;  others  are  deep  in  tone,  like  Rembrandt’s;  now  we  are  reminded 
of  Adriaen  van  Ostade,  now  of  Van  Mieris  or  of  Pieter  de  Hooch;  while  many 
of  his  pictures  are  strikingly  in  Metsu’s  style. 

Sometimes  his  coloring  is  brilliant,  again  it  is  strong,  deep,  and  juicy.  At 
times  it  is  reddish-brown  and  dull,  and  at  times  dry  and  thin.  In  composition 
and  in  drawing  he  is  invariably  skilful  and  free,  be  his  subject  farce,  satire,  or 
some  scene  of  merrymaking.  Interiors  and  outdoor  scenes  are  portrayed  with 
equal  ease,  and  the  light  peculiar  to  one  time  of  day  suits  his  brush  quite  as 
well  as  does  another.  . . . 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  declared  that  Jan  Steen  might  have  been  one  of  the 
greatest  masters  of  painting  if  only  he  had  been  born  in  Italy  instead  of  in 
Holland,  had  been  brought  up  in  Rome  instead  of  Leyden,  and  had  his  teach- 
ers been  Michelangelo  and  Raphael  instead  of  Brouwer  and  Van  Goyen.  But 
after  all,  who  can  judge  a genius  ? Leaving  Italy,  Rome,  Michelangelo,  and 
Raphael  out  of  the  question,  who  can  say  whether  Jan  Steen  would  not  have 
developed  differently  had  he  lived  in  his  own  country  at  a period  of  her  pros- 
perity, instead  of  her  decline.?  He  was,  in  a word,  a phenomenon  — a typ- 
ical, an  immortal  figure,  the  painter  of  rollicking  buffoonery,  of  the  comedy 
of  human  life  as  it  existed  in  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  in 
Holland. ABRIDGED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 

SIR  WALTER  ARMSTRONG  ‘PORTFOLIO’  1904 

IF  we  judge  him  solely  by  his  finest  works,  we  should  have  to  put  Jan  Steen 
at  the  very  head  of  the  Dutch  school  — always  excepting  Rembrandt.  In 
his  best  pictures  we  find  a combination  of  qualities  that  no  other  master  can 
approach.  His  dramatic  gifts,  his  sense  of  movement,  character,  and  even  of 
beauty,  are  unrivaled.  He  is  a good  colorist,  a fine  draftsman,  a magnificent 
handler,  and  he  could  design  a picture.  Unhappily,  it  is  only  at  rare  moments 
that  he  puts  all  these  gifts  into  action.  He  has  left  a large  number  of  pictures, 
but  only  a small  percentage,  one  in  ten  perhaps,  shows  him  at  his  best,  or  any- 
where near  it.  The  great  majority  are  hasty,  almost  perfunctory  productions 
in  which  some  unhappy  dislocation  goes  far  to  destroy  our  pleasure.  Ter 
Borch  is  apt  to  set  his  characters  in  a room  too  small  to  hold  them.  Steen  does 
the  reverse,  and  surrounds  his  manikins  with  spaces  in  which  they  are  lost. 
His  pictures  have  consequently  no  focus.  There  is  no  point  of  distance  at 
which  they  can  be  taken  in  and  enjoyed  as  a whole.  Of  these,  the  famous 
‘Tavern,’  or  ‘Picture  of  Human  Life,’  at  The  Hague,  is  a striking  example. 
There  the  action  takes  place  in  a room  as  large  as  a railway-station.  1 he  little 

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32 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


figures  are  spotted  over  the  floor  until  the  conviction  is  brought  home  to  us  that 
the  painter’s  state  of  mind  as  he  worked  was  that  of  Sterne  when  he  wrote 
‘Tristram  Shandy.’  Unity — the  unity  of  pictorial  art — was  forgotten, or  only 
provided  for  by  the  ominous  purple  curtain  which  broods  over  the  front  of 
the  scene,  ready  to  slip  down  and  blot  out  the  humanity  behind.  You  may 
say  that  here  want  of  unity  was  inherent  in  his  subject;  if  so,  it  was  a bad 
subject  for  a picture.  But  I fear  that  Jan  Steen  did  not  care  for  unity;  that 
he  did  not  understand  its  charm  as  Rembrandt,  and  Metsu,  and  Vermeer 
understood  it. 

Steen  is  one  of  those  painters  who  provoke  comparisons.  He  has  been  com- 
pared to  Hogarth,  to  Moliere,  to  Morland,  to  Raphael,  and  all  the  comparisons 
seem  just.  If  we  may  venture  on  such  a deduction  from  pictures,  he  was  prob- 
ably the  most  gifted,  mentally,  of  all  the  Dutch  painters.  In  his  conceptions 
we  find  evidences  of  all  sorts  of  sympathies  and  understandings.  He  laughs 
with  and  at  human  nature,  sitting  often  on  the  heights  himself  and  looking 
sardonically  down.  He  is  often  as  coarse  as  Rabelais,  but  can  be  as  delicate 
and  subtle  as  Mr.  Henry  James.  His  execution  is  masterly,  his  touch  brilliant 
or  broad  as  action  requires,  his  sense  of  movement  complete  and  profound. 
If  nature  had  endowed  him  with  concentration  and  more  ambition  he  would 
have  contested  the  crown  of  Dutch  painting  with  Rembrandt  himself. 

ADOLF  PHILIPPI  ‘DIE  BLUTE  DER  MALEREI  IN  HOLLAND’ 

The  most  interesting  of  all  the  Dutch  genre-painters  who  hail  from 
Leyden  is  Jan  Steen.  He  gave  to  the  painting  of  genre  an  entirely  new 
significance;  his  field  was  broader  than  was  that  of  any  of  the  others,  who  are 
open  to  the  accusation  of  sameness.  Not  even  Metsu,  whose  pictures  show 
but  little  action,  is  an  exception  to  this  rule.  Jan  Steen,  on  the  contrary,  is 
always  fresh  and  varied;  his  work  can  be  studied  from  beginning  to  end  with- 
out any  sense  of  weariness. 

In  his  conception,  and,  when  he  is  careful,  in  his  execution  also,  Steen  bears 
comparison  with  the  best.  He  was  a man  of  imagination  and  genius,  an  ob- 
server and  an  originator.  Expression  was  with  him  the  main  thing;  that  is 
what  is  always  emphasized  in  his  work.  His  compositions  are  free  and  full 
of  life,  excellent  in  perspective,  though  frequently  also  very  carelessly  painted, 
and  his  coloring  is  at  times  strong  and  beautiful.  In  his  art  he  is  indebted 
most  of  all  to  the  school  of  Haarlem,  but  he  surpassed  the  painters  of  that 
place  in  originality.  He  had  the  same  interest  as  his  fellow-citizen,  Rembrandt, 
in  characterization,  and,  in  addition,  possessed  a sense  of  humor  and  a keen 
appreciation  of  the  weakness  of  humanity.  But  his  ridicule  is  never  spiteful 
nor  malicious,  and  if  he  had  attained  to  the  lofty  style  of  a satirist,  which  many 
would  fain  accord  to  him,  he  would  assuredly  be  far  less  entertaining  as  an 
artist. 

A good-natured,  easy-going  fellow  was  Steen,  to  whom  laughter  was  a neces- 
sity, as  it  was  to  Frans  Hals.  We  can  see  this  in  his  face,  for  he  has  repeatedly 
represented  himself  in  his  pictures,  in  which  he  is  so  often  surrounded  by 
his  family  that  we  can  even  follow  his  children  through  the  different  stages  of 

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JAN  STEEN 


33 


their  development.  He  was  evidently  fond  of  children,  and  in  many  instances 
has  painted  them  with  great  tenderness  and  charm.  This  personal  relation  to 
his  art  lends  to  Steen’s  most  highly  finished  pictures  a very  natural  warmth 
of  feeling.  Those  of  his  works,  however,  that  are  less  highly  finished,  more 
sketchily  painted,  are  more  genuinely  charming,  for  the  very  reason  that  he 
was  shackled  by  strict  adherence  to  the  model. 

In  recent  years  Jan  Steen  has  often  been  compared  with  Moliere,  because, 
rising  above  all  mere  buffoonery,  he  has  depicted  the  drama  of  human  life, 
typical  not  only  of  his  countrymen  but  of  the  world  at  large.  His  contempo- 
raries, however,  entertained  no  such  opinion  concerning  him,  and  of  all  the 
Dutch  genre-painters  he  was  least  highly  valued.  It  was  only  in  England, 
where  Hogarth  had  prepared  the  way  for  an  appreciation  of  such  a style, 
that  Steen’s  artistic  excellences  were  recognized;  and  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, after  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds’s  high  estimation  of  his  work,  his  pictures  met 
with  such  an  extensive  sale  in  that  country  that  fully  a fifth  of  his  work  is  now 
to  be  found  there. — abridged  from  the  german 

W.  BURGER  ‘MUSEESDELAHOLLANDE’ 

IN  the  seventeenth  century  Holland  felt  no  interest  in  mystic  or  epic  art,  and 
accordingly  most  of  her  painters  turned  their  attention  to  the  representa- 
tion of  familiar  life.  Among  them,  the  one  who  next  to  Rembrandt  has  most 
vividly  portrayed  humanity  is  Jan  Steen.  It  might  even  be  said  that  in  no 
other  school  and  by  no  other  artist  are  characters  more  intimately  and  more 
expressively  set  forth,  nor  the  scenes  in  which  those  characters  play  their  parts 
more  graphically  told.  . . . 

The  Dutch  highly  prize  Steen,  justly  regarding  him  as  one  of  the  most  orig- 
inal painters  of  their  school.  They  recognize  in  his  pictures  certain  of  their 
national  characteristics.  But  the  field  of  Jan  Steen’s  art  is  not  confined  to  the 
peculiarities  of  any  one  people;  it  touches  the  very  heart  and  core  of  the  whole 
human  race. 

In  common  with  Moliere  and  with  Balzac,  he  repeatedly  introduces  into 
his  human  comedies  the  same  personages,  always  assigning  to  them  similar 
roles  though  in  different  plays;  he  has,  in  short,  a complete  and  well-trained 
troupe  dedicated  to  Bacchus  or  to  Venus.  There  are  young  good-for-nothings 
and  old  fools,  duennas  and  soubrettes,  fat  old  gossips  and  wayward  girls, 
famous  topers  and  dandified  rakes.  He  himself  is  almost  always  of  the  com- 
pany, clinking  glasses  and  filling  bumpers  with  the  rest;  sometimes  playing 
the  fiddle  for  them  to  dance;  sometimes  seated  in  a dusky  corner  smoking  his 
pipe  while  he  studies  the  scene  with  the  air  of  a philosopher. 

There  is  no  work  of  Steen’s  which  does  not  hold  up  to  ridicule  the  habits 
and  the  passions  of  humanity.  His  subjects  may  be  divided  into  several  differ- 
ent classes  — chapters,  as  it  were,  of  the  same  jovial  farce.  In  the  first  place 
there  are  those  family  scenes  where  one  and  all  are  making  merry,  from  the 
grandfather  to  the  baby  in  arms.  These  include  Twelfth-night  fetes,  fetes  of 
St.  Nicholas,  fetes  of  God,  and  fetes  of  the  devil,  in  which  the  table,  loaded 

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34 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


with  hams  and  with  beer-jugs,  is  always  set  in  the  midst.  A little  child  in 
short  frock  and  padded  cap  plays  on  the  knee  of  the  old  grandfather;  a plump 
young  mother  nurses  her  baby;  a father  is  teaching  one  of  his  boys  the  art  of 
smoking;  but  no  matter  what  they  are  doing,  each  one  invariably  holds  in  his 
hand  a glass  of  wine  or  beer.  . . . 

Then  there  are  orgies — chapters  dedicated  to  Bacchus  — interiors  of  tav- 
erns where  men  are  drinking  and  carousing.  Or  we  are  shown  merrymakings 
in  the  open  air,  where  people  are  dancing,  playing  at  bowls  or  ninepins,  rolling 
on  the  grass,  or  romping  beneath  arbors  — fun  and  frolic  without  restraint. 

One  finds  such  jollity  only  in  Rabelais. 

There  are  also  scenes  in  which  doctors,  charlatans,  and  alchemists  figure. 

It  is  indeed  in  the  portrayal  of  doctors  of  love-sick  girls  — chapters  dedicated  v 

to  Venus — that  Jan  Steen’s  triumph  lies.  In  these  scenes  it  is  not  so  much 
the  physician  whom  he  ridicules  as  it  is  the  patient.  This  patient  is  invariably 
some  pretty  girl  who  seldom  has  the  look  of  an  invalid  and  only  by  rare  chance 
is  represented  as  even  pale.  Sometimes  the  doctor  is  very  grave,  and  seems  to 
be  racking  his  brain  in  all  good  faith  to  alleviate  such  misery — happily,  how- 
ever, transient.  The  spectator  readily  guesses  the  cause  of  the  malady,  helped 
thereto  by  a crumpled  love-letter  before  the  mirror,  or  by  a little  medallion 
portrait  which  the  girl  has  not  had  time  to  wholly  hide  beneath  her  pillow.  Is 
not  this  like  one  of  Moliere’s  comedies  ? . . . 

But  Jan  Steen  occasionally  painted  more  serious  subjects,  biblical  and  even 
heroic.  Has  he  not  more  than  once  represented  ‘The  Marriage  at  Cana’.? 

Such  a subject  gave  him  an  excellent  excuse  to  worthily  extol  the  miracle  of  the 
changing  of  water  into  wine!  It  is  indeed  the  only  miracle  which  in  all  the 
Scriptures  seems  to  have  appealed  to  Jan  Steen,  and  in  no  one  of  his  scenes  of 
revelry  do  the  personages  become  more  genuinely  drunk  than  in  his  versions 
of ‘The  Marriage  at  Cana.’  . . . 

Not  only  in  his  characters,  but  in  the  setting  and  environment  of  his  per- 
sonages, does  Jan  Steen  possess  a quality  in  common  with  Moliere — namely, 
an  exceeding  lucidity.  So  expressive  is  he,  so  simple,  that  every  one  can  under- 
stand him — ordinary  people  and  children  quite  as  well  as  the  cultivated  and 
erudite.  Unlike  the  mystic  painters,  he  has  no  need  to  place  streamers  bearing 
inscriptions  above  the  heads  of  his  heroes;  all  the  world  knows  what  they  are 
saying  and  what  they  are  thinking,  being  shown  with  such  marvelous  skill 
what  they  are  doing.  Nevertheless,  Steen  has  a way  of  fastening  to  the  walls 
of  his  ale-houses  explanatory  and  edifying  mottoes,  such  for  Instance  as“  W hen 
the  old  are  amusing  themselves,  the  young  may  do  likewise,”  for  it  should  be 
noted  that  these  satirical  compositions  of  his,  so  far  from  extolling  the  human 
weaknesses  he  loved  to  depict,  always  have  at  bottom  a moral  significance, 
and  it  is  invariably  indicated  in  some  way  or  other  that  intemperance,  laziness, 
licentiousness,  debauchery,  meet  with  due  punishment. 

As  to  the  technical  part  of  painting,  no  one  understood  it  better  than  Jan 
Steen.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  strange  to  say,  found  analogies  between  him  and 
Raphael!  ” Jan  Steen,”  says  the  English  artist,  “has  a strong,  manly  style  of 
painting  which  might  become  even  the  design  of  Raphael,  and  he  has  shown 

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JAN  STEEN 


35 


the  greatest  skill  in  composition  and  management  of  light  and  shadow,  as  well 
as  great  truth  in  the  expression  and  character  of  his  figures.” 

After  quoting  this  I shall  venture  to  say  in  my  turn  that  there  are  some  of 
Steen’s  figures  of  doctors  which  remind  one  of  Titian  or  Velasquez  at  his  best. 
Although  only  a foot  high,  they  are  as  well  constructed  as  if  they  were  the  size 
of  life.  It  is  true  that  Jan  Steen  is  not  always  so  strong.  Invariably  clever,  his 
drawing  is  sometimes  a little  puffy,  after  the  manner  of  Jordaens;  and  indeed 
he  is  the  Jordaens  of  the  Dutch  school.  In  his  best  works,  however,  he  is  as 
correct  in  drawing  as  Ter  Borch,  and  even  firmer;  as  delicate  in  coloring  as 
Metsu,  but  with  a broader  touch;  as  vigorous  as  Pieter  de  Hooch,  but  more  full 
of  movement;  while  some  of  his  pictures  might  be  mistaken  for  the  best 
Adriaen  van  Ostades.  In  his  many  different  styles  he  manifests  almost  all 
the  qualities  of  the  different  painters  of  his  school.  But  not  one  among  them 
is  so  expressive.  His  power  of  mimicry  is  incomparable;  in  this  respect  no 
painter,  no  matter  to  what  school  he  may  belong,  has  ever  surpassed  Jan 
Steen. — abridged  from  the  french 


C|)E  l^orks  of  Jan  ^teen 

DESCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  PLATES 

‘THE  FESTIVAL  OF  ST.  NICHOLAS’  PLATE  1 

ONE  of  Jan  Steen’s  most  popular  works  is  this  picture  in  the  Ryks  Mu- 
seum, Amsterdam,  representing  the  celebration  of  St.  Nicholas’s  Day,  the 
sixth  of  December,  which  is  observed  in  Holland  in  the  way  that  Christmas 
Day  is  with  us.  On  the  night  before,  the  children  hang  up  their  shoes  and 
stockings  and  are  rewarded  by  St.  Nicholas  according  to  their  deserts — toys 
and  candy  being  bestowed  upon  the  good  children,  while  for  the  unruly  rods 
are  the  reward. 

The  personages  here  introduced  are  supposed  to  be  the  painter’s  family. 
His  father  and  mother  are  in  the  background,  while  his  wife  extends  her  arms 
to  the  little  girl  in  the  center  of  the  scene,  made  as  happy  by  the  gifts  of  the 
good  saint  as  her  big  brother  behind  her  is  chagrined  by  the  rod  found  in  his 
shoe  and  presented  to  him  by  his  older  sister,  greatly  to  the  glee  of  a younger 
boy. 

The  coloring  is  harmonious,  and  the  values  marvelously  delicate  and  true. 
The  general  tone  of  the  picture  is  a mellow  golden-brown.  The  wall  and  the 
window-frames  are  a subdued  brown;  the  square  marble  tiles  of  the  floor  are 
golden  and  brown;  the  dress  of  the  crying  boy  is  brown,  as  is  that  of  the  old 
grandmother.  The  draperies  in  the  background  are  of  a dull  reddish  hue. 
The  woman  in  the  foreground,  seated  in  a chair  of  deep  red,  wears  a bluish- 
gray  skirt,  white  cap  and  apron,  and  jacket  of  rich  green,  the  tone  of  which 
is  repeated  in  the  costume  of  the  old  man.  The  little  girl  in  the  center  is  dressed 

[28  7] 


36 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


in  brownish-yellow,  with  golden  and  pearly  tints.  Nowhere  are  Jan  Steen’s 
skill  as  a technician  and  his  incomparable  power  in  rendering  expression  more 
admirably  shown  than  in  this  well-known  picture. 

The  painting  is  on  canvas  and  measures  nearly  three  feet  high  by  two  feet 
three  inches  wide. 

<THEPARROT*SCAGE’  PLATEII 

The  scene  here  portrayed  is  the  interior  of  an  inn,  where  three  men,  ab- 
sorbed in  a game  of  backgammon,  are  seen  on  the  right,  and  an  old 
woman  on  the  left  is  engaged  in  cooking  oysters,  while  a little  boy  seated  on 
the  floor  at  her  side  is  feeding  a cat.  In  the  center  of  the  picture  stands  a 
young  girl,  who  pauses  as  she  passes  through  the  room  to  feed  the  pet  parrot 
hanging  from  the  ceiling  in  his  metal  cage.  The  girl’s  figure  as  she  stands  with 
her  back  to  us,  one  arm  upraised  towards  the  bright-plumaged  bird,  is  so 
strong  and  firm  in  modeling,  so  graceful  in  pose,  that,  as  Dr.  Bredius  has  said, 
it  alone  would  he  sufficient  proof  that  Jan  Steen,  in  spite  of  his  seeming  par- 
tiality for  the  coarse  and  the  grotesque,  had  nevertheless  a true  feeling  for 
beauty.  In  execution  the  picture  is  solid  and  vigorous,  the  tones  delicately 
harmonious.  Subdued  and  neutral  colors  prevail  in  the  background,  and  the 
eye  is  attracted  by  the  deep  blue  of  the  chair  in  the  foreground  and  by  the 
blue-green  changeable  silk  of  the  girl’s  skirt,  her  pale  pinkish-heliotrope 
jacket,  bare  neck  and  arms,  and  the  light  golden-brown  of  her  hair. 

The  picture  is  one  of  the  gems  of  the  Ryks  Museum,  Amsterdam.  It  is  on 
canvas  and  measures  about  a foot  and  a half  high  by  one  foot  three  inches 
wide. 

‘TWELFTH-NIGHT’  PLATE  III 

This  picture,  called  in  German, ‘Das  Bohnenfest’  (“^The  Bean  Festival’), 
is  in  the  Gallery  at  Cassel,  Germany.  It  represents  a Twelfth-night  cele- 
bration, when,  in  accordance  with  a time-honored  custom,  the  office  of  “ Bean 
King,”  or  master  of  ceremonies,  was  filled  by  him  to  whose  lot  had  fallen  that 
portion  of  the  Twelfth-night  cake  containing  the  bean  purposely  baked  within 
it.  In  the  hilarious  scene  here  portrayed  the  “ Bean  King,”  a little  hoy  stand- 
ing on  a bench,  a make-believe  crown  upon  his  head,  drinks  from  a wine-glass 
held  to  his  lips  by  an  old  woman,  while  another  hoy  with  an  upturned  basket 
on  his  head  playfully  supports  the  young  king’s  “train.”  Grotescjue  musicians 
make  discordant  sounds  upon  instruments  improvised  for  the  occasion.  One 
heats  with  a spoon  upon  a gridiron;  another,  supposed  to  he  Jan  Steen  him- 
self, dances  to  the  noise  made  by  striking  a metal  pot  with  a stick.  Others  of 
the  jovial  company  are  seated  at  table,  most  conspicuous  among  them  a 
woman  in  the  foreground,  who,  wine-glass  in  one  hand  and  jug  in  the  other, 
has  thrown  herself  hack  in  her  chair  in  an  attitude  of  utter  abandon  as  she 
looks  with  an  expression  of  amusement  at  the  little  hero  of  the  fete. 

The  picture  is  full  of  life  and  spirit  of  a boisterous  and  somewhat  coarse 
nature,  and  is  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  artist’s  representations  of  this 
popular  festival.  It  is  painted  carefully  and  yet  with  great  breadth  and  free- 

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JAN  STEEN 


37 


dom,  and  with  such  freshness  of  color  and  such  an  admirable  balance  in  the 
arrangement  that  it  is  entitled  to  a high  place  among  Steen’s  productions. 

The  canvas  measures  nearly  two  feet  eight  inches  high  by  about  three  and  a 
half  feet  wide. 

<THEDOCTOR’S\'ISIT’  FLATEIV 

The  most  celebrated  of  all  Jan  Steen’s  pictures  of  doctor’s  visits  to  young 
women  suffering,  we  are  led  to  suppose,  from  an  affection  of  the  heart 
incurable  by  physic,  is  this  little  picture  in  the  Ryks  Museum,  Amsterdam. 
In  technical  qualities  — color,  composition,  drawing — masterly  as  they  are 
here  shown  to  be,  others  of  his  works  may  equal  it,  but  in  no  other  is  expression 
so  subtly,  so  marvelously  rendered.  “And  to  that  one  thing,”  writes  Dr. 
Bredius,  “the  artist  has  here  made  all  else  subordinate,  thereby  differing  es- 
sentially from  the  other  ‘Little  Masters’  of  Holland,  who,  as  a rule,  sacrifice 
expression  to  execution.”  What,  indeed,  could  surpass  in  skill  the  enigmatical 
smile  upon  the  face  of  the  young  girl,  who,  ffushed  with  fever,  rests  her  head 
upon  a pillow  placed  on  a table  at  her  side  ? The  doctor,  clad  from  head  to 
foot  in  black,  and  with  a brown  cloak  draped  over  his  shoulder,  stands  near, 
holding  her  wrist  as  he  gravely  counts  her  pulse.  The  red  of  the  chair  in  which 
she  is  seated,  her  skirt  of  yellow  silk,  and  pearly  gray  jacket  trimmed  with 
white  fur,  her  white  cap  and  pillow,  are  all  thrown  into  relief  by  the  neutral 
tones  of  the  background,  by  the  dull  green  bed-curtains  and  the  somber  figure 
of  the  doctor — a figure,  says  Arsene  Alexandre,  that  notwithstanding  its 
small  scale  is  “as  forceful  in  drawing  as  one  of  Velasquez’s  portraits  of 
Philip  IV.” 

The  picture  is  a masterpiece  which  alone  would  entitle  Jan  Steen  to  a fore- 
most rank  among  the  great  painters  of  the  Dutch  School.  The  canvas  meas- 
ures rather  less  than  two  and  a half  feet  high  by  two  feet  wide. 

‘BADCOMPANY’  PLATEV 

I ’'HIS  picture,”  writes  John  C.  Van  Dyke,  “stands  for  the  individual 
A genius  of  Jan  Steen.  It  shows  him  at  his  best,  and  among  all  the  Dutch 
pictures  in  the  long  gallery  of  the  Louvre,  I venture  to  think  it  is  surpassed  by 
none  in  those  qualities  that  belong  to  the  pure  art  of  painting.  The  subject  is 
quite  in  Steen’s  vein.  It  represents  the  interior  of  a bagnio,  with  a young  gal- 
lant in  drunken  sleep  leaning  half  forward  from  his  chair  against  a young 
woman  who  leers  with  a glass  of  win-e  in  her  hand,  while  a second  woman  is 
rifling  the  pockets  and  passing  a watch  and  clothing  to  an  old  hag  behind  a 
table.  . . . 

“The  theme  is  certainly  not  elevating;  but  one  forgets  it  directly  he  looks 
at  the  manner  in  which  it  is  portrayed.  The  character  of  the  drawing  is 
masterful,  and  that  is  not  always  the  case  in  Steen’s  pictures.  He  was  fre- 
quently slipshod  and  careless  in  hands  and  arms,  which  led  Fromentin  to  ob- 
serve that  he  sometimes  painted  after  drinking  as  well  as  before.  But  here  he 
is  very  sure,very  marked  in  the  meaning  of  his  lines,  very  emphatic  in  giving 

[289] 


V 


38  MASTERSINART 

bulk  and  solidity.  The  limpness  of  the  young  man,  the  half-intoxicated  sway 
of  the  young  woman,  the  arm  of  the  woman  at  the  left,  the  clothing,  chairs, 
floor,  cabinet,  background,  are  all  superbly  characterized.  And  Steen  was 
just  as  clever  in  composition  as  Ostade,  and  more  varied.  He  knit  and  wove 
objects  together  in  a wonderful  woof  of  tones  and  colors,  until  they  were  all  of 
a piece,  united,  harmonious.  This  he  has  done  in  the  ‘ Bad  Company’  picture. 
And  what  splendid  color!  The  richness  of  the  blues,  yellows,  and  reds  is  re- 
lieved against  a deeper,  golden-brown  background — the  tones  all  simple, 
transparent,  mellow,  admirable  in  their  relationship.  Add  to  this  a painting 
as  ‘fat’  as  Ostade’s,  and  as  facile  and  sure  almost  as  that  of  Hals,  and  we 
have  the  make-up  of  as  fine  a piece  of  painting  as  Dutch  art  has  ever  shown.” 
The  picture  measures  one  foot  and  a half  high  by  one  foot  two  inches 
wide. 

‘AMENAGERIE’  PLATEVI 

IN  its  delicate  charm  and  refined  beauty  |an  Steen  never  surpassed  this  pic- 
ture so  widely  different  from  the  scenes  of  boisterous  revelry  and  degraded 
life  commonly  associated  with  his  name.  It  was  painted  in  1660,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  that  period  to  which  his  best  works  are  assigned,  and  is  now  in  the 
Gallery  of  The  Hague. 

In  an  outer  court  belonging  to  a large  mansion  seen  through  an  arched  door- 
way in  the  back  of  the  picture,  a little  girl  is  seated  feeding  her  pet  lamb  with 
milk.  A tiny  dog  lies  near,  ducks  swim  in  the  clear  waters  of  a stream  in  the 
foreground,  a pigeon  stands  upon  the  water’s  edge,  a gaily  colored  cock  struts 
along,  doves  fly  overhead,  and  a peacock  is  perched  upon  a tree  to  the  right. 
An  old  man-servant  in  black,  bearing  a green  jug  and  a basket  of  eggs,  smi- 
lingly addresses  his  young  mistress,  while  another,  a grotesque  figure  clad  in  a 
long  shabby  gray  coat,  stands  farther  back,  smiling  also  at  the  little  girl,  un- 
mindful for  the  moment  of  the  flock  of  fowls  behind  him,  all  eager  for  the  food 
he  bears.  A warm  light  suffuses  the  picture,  touching  the  bright  and  varie- 
gated plumage  of  the  birds  and  illumining  the  figure  of  the  child  in  her  pale 
yellow  dress  and  white  apron  and  kerchief. 

The  canvas  measures  about  three  and  a half  feet  high  by  two  feet  eight 
inches  wide. 

‘THEGALIANT  OFFERING’  PLATEVII 

The  Brussels  Museum  contains  this  amusing  picture  by  Jan  Steen  repre- 
senting a room  in  which  a group  of  people,  gathered  about  a table  spread 
for  a meal,  are  surprised  by  the  entrance  of  a young  man,  who,  dressed  in  gray 
and  wearing  a red  cap,  dances  gaily  through  a doorway  on  the  right,  bearing 
in  one  hand  two  onions,  and  in  the  other,  triumphantly  held  aloft,  a fine  her- 
ring, the  season’s  first  specimen  of  that  favorite  fish  of  Holland,  and  therefore 
especially  to  be  prized.  This  choice  gift  he  gallantly  presents  to  the  woman 
seated  in  the  center  of  the  picture,  who,  dressed  in  a skirt  of  deep  yellow,  with 
a red  jacket  and  a white  cap,  turns  her  laughing  face  towards  the  new-comer. 

[290] 


JAN  STEEN 


39 


Opposite  her  sits  her  husband,  too  intent  on  his  occupation  of  cracking  nuts  to 
look  up,  or  to  heed  the  barking  of  the  little  dog  excited  by  the  unexpected  ar- 
rival. Farther  back,  a buxom  servant,  coffee-pot  in  hand,  is  enjoying  the  merry 
scene,  -while  behind  her  a man  in  a cloak  and  hat  makes  a jeering  grimace  at 
the  unobservant  husband.  Another  man  is  discernible  in  the  shadow,  beside 
an  open  lattice  window. 

The  picture  is  admirably  composed,  and  in  its  spirit  and  humor  is  a work 
thoroughly  characteristic  of  Jan  Steen.  It  is  painted  on  canvas  and  measures 
about  two  and  a half  feet  high  by  two  feet  wide. 

‘JANSTEEN’SFAMILY’  PLATEVIIl 

The  painter’s  family  is  here  assembled,  with  Jan  Steen  himself  in  the 
midst,  easily  recognizable  by  his  laughing  face  as  he  sits,  pipe  in  mouth, 
behind  a table  on  which  are  placed  a large  bottle,  a glass,  a bunch  of  grapes, 
and  other  fruit.  At  his  left  is  his  wife,  in  a blue  velvet  jacket  bordered  with 
white  fur,  a blue  skirt  and  white  cap,  engaged  in  filling  a pipe.  On  his  other 
side  is  another  woman,  supposed  to  be  his  wife’s  sister.  All  three  of  these  per- 
sonages are  evidently  amused  by  a boy,  the  painter’s  son,  who,  clad  in  gray, 
stands  at  the  right  playing  a flute  with  an  imperturbably  serious  air.  On  the 
opposite  side  of  the  picture,  near  the  chimney-place,  is  Steen’s  father,  spec- 
tacles on  nose,  lustily  singing  from  a music-book  in  his  hand,  while  prominent 
in  the  foreground  is  his  mother,  wearing  a red  skirt  and  holding  a little  child 
dressed  in  a yellow  frock  with  light  green  sleeves,  a blue  apron,  and  padded 
cap,  who  merrily  dances  on  her  grandmother’s  knees  as  she  shakes  a rattle. 
In  the  background  on  the  right  a little  girl  is  seen  teasing  a cat;  a musician 
playing  on  a bagpipe  is  behind  Jan  Steen,  and  in  the  corner,  by  a window  of 
stained  glass,  stands  a young  man  to  whom  a girl  offers  a glass  of  wine.  Fas- 
tened to  the  chimney-piece  is  a paper  bearing  in  Dutch  a motto  to  the  effect 
that  when  the  old  folks  make  merry  the  young  folks  do  likewise. 

The  work  is  painted  in  Steen’s  best  manner.  Rich  in  color,  broad  and  free 
in  handling,  it  shows  none  of  the  haste  and  carelessness  too  often  noticeable 
in  his  productions.  The  canvas  measures  nearly  three  feet  high  by  a little  more 
than  three  feet  wide.  It  is  in  the  Gallery  of  The  Hague. 

‘THESICKLADY’  PLATEIX 

This  picture,  “one  of  the  delicate,  solidly  painted  works  of  the  master,” 
says  Dr.  Waagen,  “in  which  he  approaches  Metsu,”  is  in  the  Duke  of 
Wellington’s  Collection  at  Apsley  House,  London.  A richly  furnished  room 
is  here  shown,  in  which  a young  woman  is  seated  in  an  arm-chair.  She  wears 
a gown  of  gray  shot  silk  and  a purple  jacket  bordered  with  white  fur.  A white 
skullcap  covers  her  forehead,  and  over  it  is  a white  kerchief  tied  with  a red 
ribbon.  Her  pet  dog  lies  on  a cushion  on  the  floor,  and  at  the  lady’s  side, 
lightly  holding  her  wrist  that  he  may  count  her  pulse,  stands  the  doctor, 
dressed  in  a silk  coat  of  greenish-yellow,  a dark  cloak,  and  a hroad-hrimmed 
black  felt  hat.  His  left  hand  is  raised  to  command  silence  from  the  patient’s 

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40 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


mother,  who,  dressed  in  a bodice  of  yellow  silk,  a green  skirt,  blue  apron,  and 
white  linen  shoulder-cape,  looks  earnestly  into  the  physician’s  face.  Through 
an  archway  in  the  background  we  are  shown  an  adjoining  room  where  a man 
is  seated  at  a table,  and  where  the  light  falls  softly  through  the  leaded  panes  of 
a lattice  window. 

All  the  accessories  are  painted  with  the  utmost  delicacy — the  tent-shaped 
bed  with  green  curtains  closely  drawn,  the  table  at  its  foot  covered  with  a red 
tapestried  cloth,  the  clock  on  the  wall,  the  gold-framed  picture  beside  it  repre- 
senting Venus  and  Adonis  — a suggestion,  as  is  the  boy  in  the  foreground  play- 
ing with  arrows,  that  love  is  the  cause  of  the  patient’s  suffering.  In  composi- 
tion, perspective,  color,  and  in  its  light  and  shade,  the  picture  is  a beautiful 
example  of  the  painter’s  art. 

It  is  on  panel  and  measures  a little  over  a foot  and  a half  high  by  somewhat 
less  in  width. 

‘THETAVERN’  PLATEX 

This  celebrated  picture  in  the  Gallery  of  The  Hague,  sometimes  called 
‘The  Oyster  Feast,’  and  sometimes  ‘A  Picture  of  Human  Life,’  repre- 
sents the  interior  of  a Dutch  tavern,  in  which  a number  of  people  are  assembled, 
eating,  drinking,  and  making  merry.  A young  woman  in  a yellow  skirt  and 
blue  satin  jacket  bordered  wdth  white  fur  is  seated  in  the  center,  turning  laugh- 
ingly away  from  the  advances  of  an  amorous  old  man  who  kneels  at  her  side 
offering  her  an  oyster.  At  her  right  is  a little  girl  carrying  a dog  in  her  blue 
apron.  Near  by  another  child  is  teaching  a cat  to  dance,  while  a boy  in  a blue 
coat  and  red  cap,  holding  a basket  of  rolls,  watches  the  performance.  At  the 
right  of  the  picture  is  a table  covered  with  a white  cloth,  on  which  are  oysters, 
oranges,  grapes,  and  wine.  At  the  left  we  see  a maid-servant  in  a red  skirt  and 
stockings,  blue  waist  with  yellow  sleeves,  and  a green  apron,  kneeling  on  the 
hearth  as  she  pours  lemon-juice  over  some  oysters.  Not  far  off  sits  an  old  man 
holding  on  his  knee  a little  child,  who  tries  to  reach  a parrot  hanging  on  a 
perch  just  above.  In  the  shadow  near  this  group  a man  is  occupied  in  opening 
oysters,  and  at  a window  farther  back  is  seated  Jan  Steen  himself,  laughing 
heartily  as  an  old  woman  offers  him  a glass  of  wine.  Near  him  four  men, 
smoking,  drinking,  and  playing  backgammon,  are  grouped  about  a long  table 
with  a blue  cloth.  To  the  right  two  others  are  drinking  beer,  while  near  the 
table  at  the  right  of  the  picture  a woman  and  two  men  are  drinking  and  feast- 
ing to  their  hearts’  content.  The  upper  part  of  the  picture  is  covered  with  a 
large  violet-colored  curtain,  and  upon  the  shelf  just  beneath  this  curtain,  at 
the  left,  the  figure  of  a boy  blowing  soap-bubbles,  is  dimly  discernible.  In 
the  original  painting  it  can  be  seen  that  at  his  side  is  a skull — a suggestion, 
it  is  supposed,  on  the  part  of  the  painter,  that  this  youthful  philosopher  is 
meditating  upon  the  vanities  of  the  world. 

The  canvas  measures  about  two  feet  two  inches  high  by  a little  over  two  and 
a half  feet  wi  de. 


[2  92] 


JAN  STEEN 


41 


A LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  PAINTINGS  BY  JAN  STEEN 
IN  PUBLIC  COLLECTIONS 

JAN  STEEN  is  said  to  have  painted  about  five  hundred  pictures.  Of  these  a number 
are  in  private  possession,  notably  in  England,  where  the  Royal  Collection  at  Bucking- 
ham Palace,  the  Duke  of  Wellington’s  Collection  at  Apsley  House,  London,  the  Earl  of 
Northbrook’s  Collection,  the  Bridgewater  Gallery,  and  others  are  rich  in  his  works.  The 
following  list  includes  the  most  Important  of  his  pictures  in  galleries  which  are  accessible  to 
the  public. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.  Budapest  Gallery:  Peasants  Carousing  — Prague,  Ru- 
. DOLPHiNUM:  The  Serenade  — Vienna,  Imperial  Gallery:  Rustic  Wedding;  Dis- 
solute Life  — BELGIUM.  Antwerp  Museum:  Samson  and  the  Philistines;  The  Vil- 
lage Wedding  — Antwerp,  Kums  Museum:  The  Schoolmaster  — Brussels,  Muse- 
j UM : Twelfth-night;  The  Gallant  Offering  (Plate  vii);  The  Recruits;  The  Surgeon  — 

Brussels,  Arenberg  Palace:  Marriage  at  Cana  — Louvain,  Scollaert  Collec- 
tion: Game  of  Backgammon  — DENMARK.  Copenhagen  Gallery:  David  and 
Goliath  — ENGLAND.  Cambridge,  Fitzwilliam  Museum:  Village  Festival;  Interior 
with  Figures;  A Painter  and  his  Wife  — London,  National  Gallery:  The  Music- 
\ master  —London,  Wallace  Collection:  Supper  Scene;  Guitar  Player;  The  Harp- 

sichord Lesson;  Making  Merry  in  a Tavern;  Boor  Household  — FRANCE.  Lille, 
Museum:  A Fiddler  — Montpellier,  Museum;  A Traveler;  Dutch  Merrymaking  — 
Nantes,  Museum:  The  Topers  — Paris,  Louvre:  Bad  Company  (Plate  v) ; Fete  in  a 
Tavern;  Family  Scene  — Rouen,  Museum:  The  Wafer-seller  — GERMANY.  Augs- 
burg Gallery:  A Merry  Party  — Berlin  Gallery;  Garden  of  an  Inn;  The  Quarrel; 
A Merry  Company  — Brunswick  Gallery;  The  Marriage  Contract  — Cassel  Gal- 
lery: Twelfth-night  (Plate  iii)  — Dessau,  Ducal  Palace:  A Wedding  Party — Dres- 
den, Royal  Gallery:  Marriage  at  Cana;  Mother  and  Child;  Abraham  and  Hagar  — 
Frankfort,  Stadel  Institute:  Moses  Striking  the  Rock;  Man  and  Woman  Joking; 
The  Alchemist — Munich  Gallery:  The  Doctor’s  Visit;  Peasants  Quarreling — Olden- 
burg, Augusteum:  a Party — HOLLAND.  Amsterdam,  Ryks  Museum:  The  Fes- 
tival of  St.  Nicholas  (Plate  i);  The  Birthday  of  the  Prince  of  Orange;  Village  Wedding; 
The  Parrot’s  Cage  (Plate  ii);  Portrait  of  Jan  Steen;  The  Joyous  Return;  The  Charlatan; 
The  Baker  Oostwaard;  The  Charlatan;  The  Libertine;  The  Dancing-lesson;  Woman 
cleaning  a Pewter  Pot;  The  Jolly  Family;  The  Doctor’s  Visit  (Plate  iv);  Family  Scene; 
An  Orgie;  A Couple  Drinking — Amsterdam,  Six  Collection:  Young  Woman  eating 
Oysters;  The  Wedding — Haarlem,  Municipal  Museum:  Village  Kermess  — The 
Hague  Gallery:  Village  Fete;  The  Dentist;  A Menagerie  (Plate  vi);  Two  pictures  of 
Doctors’  Visits;  Jan  Steen’s  Family  (Plate  viii);  The  Tavern  (Plate  x)  — Rotterdam, 
Boymans’  Museum;  The  Surgeon;  Festival  of  St.  Nicholas  — IRELAND.  Dublin, 
National  Gallery:  The  Village  School;  A Woman  mending  a Stocking  — ITALY. 
Florence,  Uffizi  Gallery:  The  Repast  — Venice,  Academy:  The  Astrologer’s  Fam- 
ily— RUSSIA.  St.  Petersburg,  Hermitage  Gallery;  The  Doctor’s  Visit;  Summer 
Fete;  Esther  before  Ahasuerus;  The  Topers;  The  Sick  Old  Man;  Backgammon  Players; 

^ Peasant  Wedding;  Two  Tavern  Scenes;  Choice  between  Youth  and  Age  — SCOT- 

LAND. Glasgow,  Corporation  Galleries  of  Art.*  Dutch  Family  Merrymaking  — 
SWEDEN.  Stockholm,  National  Museum;  The  Ace  of  Hearts — UNITED 
STATES.  Chicago,  Art  Institute:  Family  Concert  — New  York,  Metropolitan 
I Museum  of  Art:  Dutch  Kermess;  The  Old  Rat  comes  to  the  Trap  at  Last  — New 

York,  Historical  Society:  Family  Scene;  Landscape  and  Figures;  Family  Fete. 


[293] 


a 


42 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


3^au  ^teen  BttiUograpijp 

A LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  BOOKS  AND  MAGAZINE  ARTICLES 
DEALING  WITH  JAN  STEEN 

TVAN  WESTRHEENE  was  the  first  to  question  Houbraken’s  exaggerated  state- 
, ments  concerning  Jan  Steen.  The  results  of  his  inquiry,  published  in  his  book  enti- 
tled ‘Jan  Steen.  Etude  sur  Tart  en  Hollande'  (The  Hague,  1856),  a biographical  and  crit- 
ical study  of  the  painter  by  Carl  Lemcke  in  Dohme’s  series  ‘Kunst  und  Kiinstler,’  etc. 
(Leipslc,  1878),  the  writings  of  Van  der  Willigen,  Biirger,  Bredlus,  and  the  monograph 
by  Adolf  Rosenberg  in  the  Knackfuss  series  of  ‘Kiinstler  Monographien ’ (Leipsic, 
1897),  are  of  special  value  in  studying  Jan  Steen. 

ALEXANDRE,  A.  Histoire  populaire  de  la  peinturej  ecole  hollandaise.  Paris  [1894] 
— Blanc,  C.  Histoire  des  peintres  de  toutes  les  ecoles:  ecole  hollandaise.  Paris, 
1863 — Bode,  W.  Studien  zur  Geschichte  der  hollandischen  Malerei.  Brunswick,  1883 
— Bode,  W.  Die  Galerie  zu  Cassel.  Leipsic,  1872  — Bredius,  A.  Chefs-d’oeuvre  du 
Musee  Royal  d’ Amsterdam.  Munich  [1890]  — Burger,  W.  Musees  de  la  Hollande. 
Paris,  1858-60  — Buxton,  J.  W.,  and  Poynter,  E.  J.  German,  Flemish,  and  Dutch 
Painting.  London,  1881 — Gower,  Lord  R.  The  Figure  Painters  of  Holland.  Lon- 
don, 1880  — Havard,  H.  The  Dutch  School  of  Painting:  Trans,  by  G.  Powell,  New 
York,  1885  — Houbraken,  A.  De  groote  Schoubourg  der  Nederlandtsche  Konstschil- 
ders.  Amsterdam,  1718 — Immerzeel,  J.  De  levcns  en  werken  der  hollandsche  en 
vlaamsche  Kunstchilders,  etc.  Amsterdam,  1842 — Kramm,  C.  De  levens  en  werken 
der  hollandsche  en  vlaamsche  Kunstschilders,  etc.  Amsterdam,  1856-63  — Kugler, 
F.  T.  Handbook  of  Painting;  The  German,  Flemish,  and  Dutch  Schools.  Revised  by 
J.  A.  Crowe.  London,  1874 — Larousse,  P.  Steen  (in  Grand  dictionnaire  universel). 
Paris,  1866-90 — Lemcke,  C.  Jan  Steen  (in  Dohme’s  Kunst  und  Kiinstler,  etc.).  Leip- 
sic, 1878  — Leslie,  C.  R.  Handbook  for  Young  Painters.  London,  1887 — Martin,  W. 
Jan  Steen  (in  Bryan’s  Dictionary  of  Painters  and  Engravers).  London,  1903-05  — Mon- 
TEGUT,  E.  Les  Pays-Bas.  Paris,  1869  — Philippi,  A.  Die  Bliite  der  Malerei  in  Holland. 
Leipsic,  1901  — Rosenberg,  A.  Terborch  und  Jan  Steen.  Leipsic,  1896  — Smith,  J. 
Catalogue  Raisonne.  London,  1829-42  — Van  Dyke,  J.  C.  Old  Dutch  and  Flemish 
Masters.  New  York,  1895 — Wedmore,  F.  Masters  of  Genre  Painting.  London,  1880 
— Westrheene,  T.  V.  Jan  Steen.  Etude  sur  I’art  en  Hollande.  The  Hague,  1856  — 
Weyerman,  j.  C.  De  Levensbeschrijvlngen  der  Nederlandsche  Konstschilders,  etc.  The 
Hague,  1729-69 — Willigen,  A.  van  der.  Les  Artistes  de  Harlem.  Haarlem,  1870 
— WoLTMANN,  A.,  AND  WoERMANN,  K.  Geschichte  der  Malerei.  Lespsic,  1887-88. 


MAGAZINE  ARTICLES 

L’ART,  1894:  H.  Fierens-Gevaert;  Jan  Steen  au  Musee  du  I.ouvre.  1894:  M. 

Poradowska;  Jan  Steen — Gazette  des  Beaux- Arts,  1898:  E.  D.-G. ; La  Con- 
sultation, par  Jan  Steen  — Portfolio,  1904:  Sir  W.  Armstrong;  The  Peel  Collection 
and  the  Dutch  School  of  Painting — Zeitschrift  fur  biLdende  Kunst,  1868:  O.  Mun- 
dler;  Meisterwerke  der  Braunschweiger  Galerie.  1873:  W.  Bode;  Zur  Biographle  und 
Characteristik  Jan  Ste  n’s. 


[294  ] 


MASTERS  IN  ART 


Htucriciiit 

^vt 


XIV  LESSONS 

Guided  by  a Topic  Book. 


The  cultivated  American  should  become 
acquainted  with  the  art  of  his  own  country. 
This  can  be  done  in  your  own  home,  satisfac- 
torily and  practically,  by  joining 

2Tt)ir  ^rt  Cluti 

WITH  TOPIC  BOOK  No.  VI. 

Subject  of  first  lesson:  ‘‘Artistic  Resources  of 
Our  Country.”  This  alone  is  worth  knowing. 

ILLUSTRATIONS 

40  selected  Raphael  Prints,  4x5,  outline  the  course. 

6 dozen  4x5  Raphael  Prints  give  further  light. 

16  dozen  miniature  size  add  further  examples  of 
beauty. 

Send  for  leaflet  of  Raphael  Prints  and  illustra- 
ted Booklet  of  The  Traveler’s  Art  Club,  free. 

THE  CHAFFEE  STUDIO 

I Hancock  Street,  Worcester,  Mass. 


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for  lighting  pictures.  Every  owner  of 
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The  fact  that  so  many  have  ordered 
these  outfits  for  their  friends  is  proof 
that  their  merits  are  appreciated. 
Height,  closed,  51  inches;  extended,  81 
inches.  The  light  from  the  reflector  can 
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These  special  Reflectors  are  used  by 
all  tlie  picture-dealers  in  New  York, and 
by  private  collectors  not  only  in  this 
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GEO.  FRINK  SPENCER,  Manager 
Telephone,  860  Franklin 


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